# The Visual Toolbox  ## Metadata - Author: [[David duChemin]] - Full Title: The Visual Toolbox - Category: #books ## Highlights - The rest you will learn, as you learn everything in life—by repetition, failure, and trying again until it becomes yours. ([Location 165](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=165)) - You will notice here an absence of rules, because there are none. We will not be exploring the Rule of Thirds, because there is no such rule, and I want to encourage a healthy anarchy among my students. ([Location 166](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=166)) - There is a magic wand: it’s making photographs. Thousands and thousands of photographs. ([Location 172](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=172)) - relentlessly looking for light, lines, and moments. ([Location 176](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=176)) - I think I’d weep if the best you could say about my photographs is that they’re tack sharp or perfectly exposed. ([Location 178](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=178)) - You will not get better at this craft with merely a passing familiarity with the basics. ([Location 204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=204)) - express something about what you see in this world, ([Location 216](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=216)) - how you see the world will be different from how others see the world. ([Location 223](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=223)) - a matter of the way you see them. ([Location 224](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=224)) - disavow, is this: “How should I photograph this?” There is no should. ([Location 234](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=234)) - The more interesting question is, “How do I want to photograph this?” ([Location 235](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=235)) - This is not a journey to a destination, but a journey of ongoing discovery. ([Location 238](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=238)) - Your own favorite images. What do they have in common? ([Location 244](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=244)) - You are obligated to no one but yourself to make the photographs you do, so make them your way. ([Location 252](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=252)) - Find your vision and learn to express it with the tool in your hands. ([Location 253](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=253)) - What devices can I use to exclude the unnecessary without diminishing the necessary? ([Location 280](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=280)) - creativity is about possibilities, ([Location 310](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=310)) - put your camera on Manual ([Location 313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=313)) - the chief benefits of shooting RAW for most photographers, which are flexibility and file depth, become less of a need if you learn to expose well. I’m not saying you should shoot in either RAW or JPG, but that understanding them both is helpful. ([Location 335](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=335)) - the meter in your camera has no idea what you’re photographing. So it reads the light and assumes the scene is an average gray. ([Location 338](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=338)) - the Zone System shows me that middle gray and white with meaningful detail are three or four stops apart. ([Location 349](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=349)) - shoot a JPG as a reference frame. ([Location 382](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=382)) - What you need to pay attention to is where the mountains sit, from left to right, within the frame of the histogram graph. ([Location 423](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=423)) - I use my LCD only for looking at the histogram, checking focus, and being critical about my composition. I never use it to judge the exposure without the histogram. ([Location 433](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=433)) - the exposure triangle, ([Location 463](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=463)) - I’m no longer asking, “Are they sharp?” I’m asking, “Are they alive?” ([Location 508](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=508)) - It’s not a question of sharpness; it’s a question of which part of the image is sharp— ([Location 513](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=513)) - Wider lenses more closely mimic our peripheral vision. ([Location 603](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=603)) - Wide-angle lenses are harder to use because they allow so much to be included in the frame, which means greater intention and care are needed to choose a point of view that controls the foreground and the background. ([Location 623](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=623)) - It’s about stories, and life, and photographs that say something about those things. ([Location 644](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=644)) - the tool that gets out of the way as quickly as possible and allows them to do their work with as few frustrations as possible. ([Location 651](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=651)) - photographic skills are these: receptivity and an openness to see things as they are, curiosity, patience, and a willingness to fail and try again. In the case of photographing people, the key skill is an ability to empathize and connect. ([Location 654](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=654)) - It’s been said that photography is the art of exclusion. ([Location 674](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=674)) - When a longer lens doesn’t give you the look you’re hoping for, or excludes too much of the context, try going much wider and much closer. ([Location 710](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=710)) - Photography is as much about what we exclude from the frame as it is about what we include. ([Location 735](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=735)) - Sometimes the best tool for achieving impact is isolation, ([Location 737](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=737)) - Shallow depth of field and a tight angle of view make background control much easier. ([Location 746](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00UZ9K1LY&location=746))